Based on my experience of living in Asia for nearly 15 years, everthing is business -- and Westerners are suckers if they think it isn't.

Example: When I tell people that I teach aikido at a university, the first question that they invariably ask is how much I get paid. Next is how many students. They then immediately calculate earnings per student. Then they start comparing with other dojo.

Curriculum, lineage, loyalty or philosophy never enter into the conversation.

The school where I originally trained at, freely admitted that its primary revenue earner was the beginners' class that it began every six months after an extensive advertising initiative. It was revenue from a group with an 80% drop-out rate that sustained the school.